Casey Jr. is the little train that has huffed and puffed his way right out of Walt Disney’s classic animated feature film, Dumbo. He is coming around the track with his smoky stack and ready to transform guests, both small and large, into wild animals.

Casey Jr. Circus Train gives guests a delightfully calm railroad ride through Storybook Land, but it has not always been that way. During initial plans for the Casey Jr. Circus Train, it was to be a thrilling roller coaster through the hills of Fantasyland – the first of its kind for Disneyland. However, after several test runs were conducted, concerns arose of its effectiveness as a roller coaster and also the maintenance that would be needed for an attraction of this kind. It was then thatCasey Jr. Circus Train lost his status as Disneyland’s first thrill ride.

Nonetheless, theCasey Jr. Circus Train did appear as an attraction on Opening Day on July 17, 1955, but immediately shut down for a short while for some fine tuning. On July 31, 1955, the Casey Jr. Circus Train returned to service and as been performing close to perfection ever since.

For the first year of operation, Casey Jr. Circus Train was simply a train ride with very little to look at. The miniature scenes of Cinderella, Aladdin, Pinocchio and other Storybook Land characters were added to the Canal Boats in September 1956 turning them into the Storybook Land Canal Boats and giving riders on Casey Jr. Circus Train something to look at. Since then, the attraction has remained pretty much unchanged as Timothy Q. Mouse guides passengers through this fun-filled trip.

Additional Trivia and Fun Facts

• The look of the Casey Jr. Circus Train is a tribute to the whimsical design of its namesake from the film. Many of the ornate detail and benches were originally used as part of the 1875 merry-go-round that was eventually transformed into King Arthur Carrousel.
• The open air “sleigh” type cars actually came from the King Arthur Carrousel. They were removed to make room for more horses and converted into train cars for Casey Jr. Circus Train
• Casey Jr. says “I think I can, I think I can” as he climbs up the hills.